Dear Instagram, I get it. It’s hard to hire people to service the 1 billion people using your platform. But because you have a BILLION people using your platform, don’t you think that’s even more of a reason to hire customer support reps? I’ve been using Instagram for years. It’s by far, my favorite social media platform. Instagram is a big reason that I was able to support my family for the last 2 1/2 years and for that, I am eternally grateful. But there is one GINORMOUS issue that seems to get worse as the years go by. When things stop working, we have no one to help us. Sure, we can hit that “report a problem” button but honestly, out of the hundreds of times I’ve tried that, only once has something actually been fixed because of my reports. Or… maybe it just fixed itself and my cries for help were useless. In fact, I’m sure that’s more likely the reason. Who knows. But for the sake of getting my thoughts across and on behalf of everyone on Instagram who struggles with the lack of support, I’ve compiled a list of reasons why Instagram should hire customer support reps.
People in the US Need Jobs
Let’s start with the fact that as of the beginning of this August 2020, nearly 18 million people in the US are unemployed. 18 million! Imagine how grateful Americans would be to be able to sit in their homes and answer emails, helping the many Instagram users who are experiencing technical difficulties. I’m betting most would jump at the chance! It would help people to pay their bills and tackle the lack of customer support all at the same time.
Those That Spend Money on Ads, Have No Support
Many businesses (especially us small businesses) are spending their hard earned money to boost posts because we have to make sure our posts are seen (that algorithm is a whole other story). We have no way to contact anyone if something is wrong with the ads or they take too long to be approved. I’ve boosted a number of posts where I was sharing information with an important, and short deadline. Those boosts were not approved 24 hours later, missing the deadline, so I had to cancel them. I know Instagram probably doesn’t need our small business money, but no business wants to lose money because of lack of support, do they?
Scammers and Hackers are Out of Control
I couldn’t tell you the amount of scam messages I receive on Instagram on a regular basis. I’ve seen hard working small business owners, bloggers and content creators lose access to their accounts because hackers have gained control and demanded a ransom from them (only to keep the money and never give back access to the account). Scammers are constantly pretending to be financial institutions, trying to gain your personal information so that they can scam you out of money and ruin your credit. And don’t get me started on the crazy number of sugar daddies, bitcoin pushers and companies that want to sell you fake followers and likes. It’s insane. There is no way to report these issues and no one to reach out to. Sometimes, I’ll report an account that is trying to scam others and I’ll hear back, 6-9 months later, that the account doesn’t go against IG’s terms. Imagine how many people they’ve scammed in 6-9 months! That needs to change, Instagram!
Instagram Users Deserve Support
Amazon earns approximately 17 million in sales every hour. Imagine if Amazon turned off their phones and didn’t have chat or email addresses to reach out to when you have a problem? I can’t. If Amazon can staff customer support, so can Instagram. Without Instagram users, Instagram wouldn’t exist. Don’t Instagram users deserve to have the ability to contact support if something is wrong with their account?
How About Just Because We Need It?
Because maybe that’s the only reason we need…
I’m just one of a billion people across the world that use Instagram and I know that Instagram may never see this.
In fact, I doubt they will.
But if by some miracle, Kevin Systrom or Adam Mosseri or any of the Instagram staff see this, I beg you to consider hiring a customer support staff. With all of the bad press Facebook and Instagram are getting lately, Instagram could turn that all around by employing a large staff of customer support. You’d be helping people feed their families and taking a huge amount of stress off of those of us that rely on Instagram to pay our bills. It would make us love Instagram even more than we already do!
10 COMMENTS
TARA PITTMAN
3 years agoI have never had a problem with Instagram but I have with Facebook. You are so right about how they need some customer support as it is so so frustrating when you have problems.
dijana
3 years agoThank you for always being our advocate!!!
Wren
3 years agoInstagram is a big platform and for those needing help, it is sad they really do not get any. I love Instagram and think it would be a great way to increase jobs as well.
NIcky
3 years agoI agree with you. I have heard of several people getting hacked and worse, deleted because they didn’t have two step verification activated. It should not be that easy to hack a system.
Sherry
3 years agoHow frustrating this must be. Those kinds of wait times for a response is unacceptable.
Toni
3 years agoI totally agree! It’s really frustrating when you can’t have support you need.
Mimi
3 years agoGosh, there’s so much wrong with Instagram! Seriously, I had some issues with being shadowbanned and it took forever to fix it. I totally agree with you
April
3 years agoYou are absolutely right! Shameful that a business like Instagram doesn’t really care about it’s customers. I’ve taken a long break from it, and it has felt so good!
Art
3 years agoI’ve always wondered why they didn’t. They definitely need a team, for so many reasons. Many that you named. Let’s hope one day they will.
Tisha
3 years agoOH my gosh yes the hackers and scammers are ridiculous! Constantly getting message requests from them